Black-tailed Godwit
Limosa limosa
In flight the black-tailed godwit shows a striking black-and-white wing bar and a white tail with a broad black terminal band; in breeding plumage its head, neck and breast glow rusty red. In display flight the male climbs steeply, rolls around its long axis and calls “grutto”.
- Group
- Waders & Waterbirds
- Photos
- 1
- Taken
- 2026
Profile: Black-tailed Godwit
- Family
- Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)
- Size
- approx. 35–45 cm
- Wingspan
- approx. 70–82 cm
- Weight
- approx. 160–500 g
- Habitat
- Damp, short-grassed, extensively managed meadows and pastures and bogs or fens; on migration also coasts, flooded meadows and fields.
- Diet
- Beetles and their larvae, other insects, snails, worms and further invertebrates, probed for with its long bill in soft ground.
- When to see
- Short- and long-distance migrant. Arrives on the breeding grounds from February/March and is hardly seen in Central Europe in winter; winters in areas including the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast and sub-Saharan Africa.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)